


New Old Friends

by Kaoupa



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Corrupted Steven Universe, F/M, Tame Corrupted Steven Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23062639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: The Maheswarans get an unexpected pet.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Doug Maheswaran & Priyanka Maheswaran, Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Doug Maheswaran/Priyanka Maheswaran
Comments: 36
Kudos: 216





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Steven Universe.

It had started out as a normal day for the Maheswarans, right up until Doug and Connie were both summoned to the front yard by Priyanka screaming.

The giant six-legged corruption sitting curiously on the front lawn explained everything without further need for words.

“What… what the fuck?” Connie muttered under her breath. Both Doug and Priyanka shot her a Parental Look, but it was at best half-hearted. Considering the circumstances, swearing seemed pretty appropriate.

“Connie, go inside and call Steven. Get the gems over here as quickly -” Doug began. Before he could keep talking, though, the massive corruption let out a heavy “chuff” and snarled. Before the Maheswarans could do anything, the massive being had moved forwards - no it was just leaning down -

And then, it gave them what could only be described as “puppy dog eyes”.

It was really weird, getting that from a massive gem corruption.

“Uh… hi?” Connie wasn’t sure how to react to this - her day had already been thrown throughly off-kilter. Somehow, the puppy dog eyes grew more adorable. Connie could feel her will starting to melt - and to her left, she saw her father carefully moving forwards.

“Um… hey, girl…” Doug said carefully, rubbing the massive being’s cheek affectionately. This got a growl from the six-legged mini-Godzilla. Doug swiftly stepped back. The growling stopped, and the being moved slightly closer.

And Connie grew slightly more puzzled. “Mom, you and dad keep talking to her. I’ll try to find the gemstone.” She whispered.

“Okay, it seems we might be staying here today anyways…” Priyanka muttered, sharply nodding to the side.

Connie took a look. The cars that her parents both drove had been rendered very undriveable - it seemed that at some point the corruption’s huge tail had slapped the ground hard enough to blow out the windows. None of them were going to drive anywhere sitting in broken glass.

And ten minutes later, Connie was just getting more and more confused.

Despite looking all over the entire body of the large monster, she hadn’t seen a gemstone - her dad had even (VERY carefully) gone up the tail to scout despite Priyanka’s pleas, and found nothing.

The gem monster hadn’t seemed to mind, though. After calling in to the hospital and telling them she couldn’t come in today because her car had broken down, her mother had started petting her. The gem monster had… well… it was like purring, but it was a deep enough pitch that she could feel it in her bones. After a while, Connie had gone up to her other cheek and started scratching it carefully. The purring - well, that wasn’t quite appropriate… and hissing didn’t seem right.

Vibrating. She was vibrating.

As odd as it was to give that term to something a living, breathing, creature was doing, it was the only thing she could think of-

Wait, breathing? Without thinking further, Connie immediately looked at the approximate stomach/chest area of the gem being. It was expanding - slowly, almost imperceptibly, but it was there. Gems didn’t need to breathe, and there was no way this whole thing wasn’t gem-related. And gems and organics mixed together, meant there was only one culprit…

“Mom? Dad? I think Steven  _ made _ this guy.”

Her parents both could not have looked any more shocked. “But… how?” Her father eventually asked, a mixture of disturbance and awe present on his face.

“Diamonds, like Steven… well, they make gems, with their essence.” Connie quickly said. She was not going to mention that gems were made from essentially body fluids - considering she’d seen Steven bring a Pebble to life with his sweat. “But Steven’s part-organic, so he can do that with organic life too. I heard he once made a bunch of watermelon people by accident when he was still learning about his powers, so I guess he made… him, too.” Slowly, she reached up and touched the warm flesh of the massive being that had started to sleep. “Steven’s… well, if this is really like, his kid or something… we should probably let him stay here as long as he doesn’t do anything bad.”

Doug and Priyanka shared a look. Connie knew more about the gems and Steven than either of them did, and the… kaiju in front of them hadn’t really done anything besides some accidental property damage. Which was probably unavoidable considering how big he was, so they couldn’t really hold it against him. But… “Call the gems, first. As long as he behaves, I don’t mind if he stays… I’m honestly not sure we could get him to leave. But it would probably be best to get an expert opinion first.” Priyanka eventually said.

“Got it!”

  
  
  


Two minutes later, Connie hung up her phone, her heart pounding and her world feeling like it had been turned upside-down. “Mom, dad, I have to go. Steven’s missing!”

Twenty feet away, on her front lawn, the kaiju turned sleepily.


	2. A new name.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They can't just keeping calling him "the gem monster"...

Connie had initially tried to go out on her own, but Lion was nowhere to be found - and none of the gems had replied to her phone calls after the first response besides to tell her they had not found Steven, and no, they didn't have licenses. And Greg was currently having a panic attack and probably not in a state to drive.

So she was stuck either walking/running the whole way to Beach City to help most of Little Homeworld’s residents track down Steven, or waiting for the cars to get their windows fixed (and seeing if he came to see her). 

The tow trucks had stopped halfway down the street and initially refused to come any closer when they saw the kaiju sleeping in the Maheswaran’s front yard. It had taken ten minutes of Doug and Priyanka talking to them and Connie scratching him on the cheek affectionately (and him licking her like a dog might and getting her clothes wet) to convince them otherwise.

They had asked a fairly good question before they left, though. 

“What’s his name, then?”

Connie had just shrugged, and her parents had not answered either.

“Well, can we give him one, then? Hm…” The two drivers both seemed to be pondering the idea. “Steve?”

Connie winced at the reminder of her missing friend. “For personal reasons… no.”

Both of them looked puzzled, but shrugged. “Raphael?” 

“I have nothing against christian names, but we’re hindu.” Priyanka replied carefully.

The two tow truck drivers just shrugged. “Well, see what you can think of, then. I don’t know anything about hindu names.” 

“Same here.” And with that, the two of them started walking back down the street, back to their trucks.

“How about… Lamba? He’s certainly big enough to fit.” Doug stated, looking up at the again-sleeping gem lifeform.

“I don’t know, Doug. He’s certainly long, but… he’s about the same proportions as a normal dog would be, I think. If dogs that large existed.” Priyanka shot down the idea. “He’s no daschund.”

“I think if he was acting like a daschund, we would have to call the gems. Or the army.” Doug chuckled halfheartedly, but the mental image of the damage the colossal organic-gem could have done if he’d been hostile sobered him up quickly. “Then… Haddi?”

“Bone, dad?” Connie looked baffled.

“With all those spikes? It seems appropriate.” Doug gave a short nod backwards. Neither Connie or Priyanka could come up with a good reply.

Priyanka finally spoke up with her own suggestion. “Dakshi? He’s certainly glorious… in his own way.” 

“I think Parth works better.” Connie interjected.

“Is Steven still giving you ideas?” Doug looked pleased.

Connie just giggled. “Well, he’s sort of like Steven’s… kid, sort of? And Steven’s basically a prince himself, so...”

“I’m not opposed to it, but if he can’t talk to anyone, I’m not sure he could qualify as a prince.” Priyanka pointed out.

It was at this point that Doug brightened a little more than he had before. “Well, if we’re going to use Steven as inspiration… his last name is Universe. So… what about Jihan?”

This got a pause. “Cosmos?” Priyanka asked, interest coloring her voice. “That seems appropriate… he’s certainly big enough.”

“And it sounds nice.” Connie agreed hastily, already warming to it.

“All right! Ahem, then… all in favor of Jihan?” Doug looked rather encouraged by the fact that both his wife and daughter were warming up to his suggestion. “I say aye, obviously.”

“Aye!” Connie grinned.

“Aye.” Priyanka agreed. “Now… what does Jihan eat?”

There was a brief pause. 

As she pictured the lawn falling into Jihan’s gullet, in an attempt to feed his hunger, Connie could already feel herself starting to panic.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A giant friendly monster gem being liking you can create problems.

_The day had started out normally, as much as it could with Jihan sleeping on their front lawn and probably killing the grass by blocking the sunlight._

_It had relieved the Maheswarans when their new “pet” hadn’t tried to eat them, or anything else. Connie had suggested that if he had inherited Steven’s healing powers, that might explain why he had not needed to eat anything - they were helping make up for the deficiency._

_Priyanka had tried to ask Connie about that, but they both needed to get to the hospital/school respectively. That and Connie not really knowing too much about Steven’s healing powers and how they worked, had cut the interrogation session short._

_“Ughhh…” Connie thought to herself as she felt the need to sleep pulling at her again. She knew she should have tried to sleep more last night, but she had been worried sick about Steven._

_Why was he missing? Had he been kidnapped? Had some gems walked in and stolen him away while he slept? Was he even on Earth anymore? She had called the gems on the way to school and asked if the Diamonds had Steven at the moment. Pearl had texted her they didn’t._

_Or… had he…_

_...left them?_

_Why? She’d…_

_Here, she had hesitated._

_When was the last time that she had hung out with Steven? Before that night at the skating rink? How long had she been just focused on college?_

_He’d been away for two years. Fixing the Authority._

_Two years was a long time._

_A really long time during which they had spent far less time together._

_Time when he had probably been desperate to see her. And she had barely seen him at all after he came back._

_Because she had been focused so much on her own problems that she had forgotten he probably had his own._

_She felt herself starting to cry._

Steven… I’m sorry…

_“AAAHHH!”_

_Then the scream from outside cut off her line of thought._

_Reflexively, she stood up and reached for her sword before she realized it wasn’t there._

_So she reached for her phone, instead, and ran outside._

911 if it’s a shooter or something, and if it’s a corrupted gem call Pearl.

_That was the initial plan, at least. Until she saw the massive six-legged pink being walking down the college roads, looking around at the many panicking students and teachers. “Jihan?!”_

_Jihan’s head swung around the second he heard her voice, and his tongue started dangling like a dog’s might. Before Connie could do much else, he started walking towards her. This didn’t sound like much considering he was two hundred meters away, but for someone who was roughly forty feet tall when he was on all six legs, it meant that he covered the distance to her in less than thirty seconds. Before Connie could think of anything to really say, he was in front of her, lowering his head down to look her in the eyes - oh Vishnu, he was doing the puppy dog eyes again._

_“Jihan, you can’t come to school, you’ll freak everyone out like… this. Go home.”_

_Jihan didn’t move a muscle._

_Until he licked her._

_“No! Bad Jihan!” Connie punched him lightly on the nose. The only reaction he gave was that his puppy dog eyes came up again. She felt her will to resist melting. “Jihan… you’re scaring everyone. Please, go home. I’ll be back later, I promise! We can do stuff then.”_

_Jihan did not react. Connie sighed. “Look… I have to get back to class now. Please go home.”_

_Jihan didn’t move._

_“Ugh…” Connie started walking back into the building, pulling out her phone and getting ready to call Pearl. Jihan wasn’t being violent or scary, but maybe Peridot could find a ship for the Diamond’s size and airlift him to Little Homeworld._

_Then, ten seconds after she walked back into the building, it started to quake._

_“What the heck?!” Connie spun around, and noticed something. She was thirty feet into the building, and Jihan was still roughly five feet behind her._

_Also, the front doors to the building had vanished. And the ceiling above them. There was water spilling onto the floor from a pipe, and she could see dirt on the ground._

_It was not dirt from the turf outside._

  
  
  


“And then the police got there, and the school expelled me until Jihan goes away!” Connie snapped, before sighing. “And the police said they aren’t going to do anything to him because he’s tame, and they won’t call in the army unless he becomes hostile, and I’m glad about that, but I can’t go to school if he follows me there every day!”

“I’m just glad we aren’t getting charged for the damages…” Doug sighed. Nobody had been directly hurt by Jihan, but the property damage to the front entrance of the building Connie’s lectures took place in had gotten several repair crews called in.

It wasn’t anything that a lot of the planet’s governments weren’t used to, though. A fund for repairs had already been started.

“Would anyone care to tell me why there is currently a small fleet of cars parked nearby, and why they are all taking pictures of Jihan?” Priyanka asked, walking into the room.

Sighing, Connie began the story of how Jihan had followed her to school a second time. By the end of it, Priyanka was also sighing. “Mom… what can we do with him? We can’t get the gems to attack him or something, he’s not being mean. But… he’s too strong. Too big. He can do damage just walking around if he isn’t careful, and he’s sort of like an tamed animal. So right now he doesn’t know he has to be careful, or he doesn't know _how_ to becareful.”

“So… how should we handle him?” Doug asked.

Priyanka was quiet. Then, she sighed. “Connie? Give the gems a call. I know we’re all worried sick about Steven, but… we need an expert opinion here.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie is dwelling.
> 
> Being brilliant, it turns out, also means that in certain other areas you can be mind-bogglingly stupid.

Having to stay home from school was rather freeing, in a way.

Connie missed her friends, but it was nice to not have to get up at six’o clock every day.

She’d tried to talk her parents into letting her go search for Steven, but neither of them had been able to get time off, Lion was still nowhere to be found, and… she had certain requirements at home.

She had a plan B now, though!

“Come on, Jihan… please?” The snoring gem-organic creation made no attempt to move despite her place on his head. “Jihan, please! I need to go help look for Steven!”

But she hadn’t been able to get it to work yet.

The gems were spending all of their time searching for Steven, and hadn’t made anything besides a vague promise that they would stop by her house when the search radius expanded enough that their house was included in the radius… they would stop by. Apparently Peridot had developed a gem-tracking device that had, with careful attenuation, been specifically geared to detect the magic of Steven’s gemstone.

So Connie was stuck at home. All by herself, with nobody to talk to except over the phone.

People who were either all busy most of the time, or ignoring her.

When she saw Steven again, she was going to call him every day, and she would ask him personally if he wanted to go with her to college. Just… not as Stevonnie.

The city the college was in was a safe one for illegal immigrants - she had checked that out herself. Greg could afford tuition, and it was rapidly becoming clear Steven had not been adjusting well to his social life’s decline.

College and school were important, and her future was important, but…

Steven was important too. And she had (partly because he had told her to) been ignoring the signs that he wasn’t sure he had one of his own.

Beneath her, Jihan slumbered peacefully, happy where he was.

Connie smiled a little as she scratched him.

She had her new friend, at least. But she needed to help her old one too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As someone who had an evening shift several nights a week for a few years (I gave my two weeks notice more than two weeks ago, so it is no longer the case) and who is probably going to have to deal with another one soon, I do not recommend staying alone in your house for most of the day several days a week. Even for an introvert like me, it sucks.


	5. Affection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Visitors come to see Jihan.

“WH-WHAT IS THIS?!”

“SHHHH!” Priyanka hissed fiercely at Pearl. “You’ll wake him up!”

Behind her, Jihan’s tail wagged lightly in his sleep. Connie wasn’t sure what he was dreaming of, but she hoped that it was pleasant. She wasn’t sure he’d react pleasantly if he woke up to find the Crystal Gems having a hiss-shouting match with her mother, though.

“Steven made him!” Connie whispered, scratching one of Jihan’s feet. He vibrated again, seemingly with pleasure.

“You’re certain this isn’t a corrupted gem.” Garnet replied bluntly.

“We looked at his whole body several times. There’s no gem.” Doug stated calmly. “And his name is Jihan. He’s a good boy.” He rubbed Jihan’s cheek as he spoke. The meters-long tail at the other end of the Maheswaran’s newest family member wagged harder even in his sleep.

“Well, it would certainly appear that Steven made him, then. His magic signature is emanating strongly from this Jihan.” Peridot muttered slowly, taking a look at the tracker. “I would need to find more points of reference…. But I suppose that organic life forms empowered or given life directly by Steven’s Diamond essence would give off the same magical signature. In hindsight, my tracker was not calibrated for other organic life forms with his essence... I will require access to the Watermelon Stevens I have been told of as soon as I have finished scanning him!”

Connie had moved to intercept Peridot before she got any closer to the snoring gem creature. “Peridot, stop! He’s sleeping.”

“I can assure you Connie, the scan is noninvasive.” Peridot replied casually.

“Can you assure me that it won’t wake him up?” Connie replied, looking back at the still-sleeping Jihan. “I don’t want to know how bad things will look if you fight him and he gets mad.”

Peridot paused briefly to consider how annoyed humans could be if their sleep sessions were cut short.   
She also considered how big Jihan was, how much Diamond Essence had to be flowing through him for his magical signature to be a rough approximation of Steven’s, and how powerful that would make him.

She came to a decision. “...You can run the tests yourself when he wakes up.” Peridot quickly decided, handing Connie the scanner. “I will direct you over the phone at that time, but for now I will go scan the Watermelon Stevens as soon as I get confirmation of their location.”

“Like… you guys are sure you don’t need us to take care of him?” Amethyst carefully asked, looking over Priyanka’s shoulder.

Priyanka shot her a dark - but flat - look. “What do you think the odds are of you ever getting Jihan to go anywhere but where he wants to go against his will?”

“I dunno…” Amethyst replied, hand reaching for her gem.

“Leave. Him. Alone.” Connie hissed.

“He’s - Connie, he’s a giant monster!” Garnet replied.

“...No. He’s our friend.” Connie hissed.

“Connie-” Pearl began.

“No. Enough. Leave.” Priyanka replied. “You have ten minutes to go before I call the police.”

“I’m sorry things went that way, Connie…” Priyanka sighed.

“I… it’s fine mom. They’re all upset Steven’s gone.” Conine sighed. “I… I wish I knew what happened. He just… left one day, from what I heard. No goodbyes, no… anything. No warnings.”

“Why?” Doug asked, looking puzzled.

Connie sighed. “I… he felt like everyone was leaving him. I - he was in space for two years, and I barely spent time with him then, and I was so focused on college and I was  _ barely there for him _ and he-!”

Before Connie could continue, something nudged her from behind.

“Something” was big enough and strong enough that she toppled over almost instantly, falling face-first onto the lawn.

“Jihan!” She shrieked.

But before she could get up, something massive and wet, like a towel that had just came out of the washer when it was set on “warm”, covered her body.

Jihan was licking her.

“JIHAN!” She screamed even louder, before the massive tongue covered her in slobber a second time, her previous anger at herself forgotten. Rolling over, before she could get up, the tongue came down a third time. And this time, it was much faster.

“Agh! Stoppit!” Connie sputtered, but even as she tried to stop the massive organism from licking her like a dog, she couldn’t fight the burst of laughter building up in her throat.

And as she rolled around on the ground, her parents laughing to her side and doing nothing to help the massive and happy gem-organic life form covering her body in slobber, her sadness went away.

**Author's Note:**

> The start of this idea was on Tumblr, where I saw several rather cute pictures of Connie with Corrupted Steven being all docile near her.


End file.
